Rowing

Bowden's boys aim to turn the tide after bitter defeat

Four men who raced in last year's Boat Race have failed to make it into Saturday's crews - Cambridge's Canadian president Dan O'Shaughnessy and three of Oxford's losing boat. The competition to make the boats has been intense, suggesting this year's event will be high-class.

Following last year's controversial victory, when their crew was stroked by the German international Thorsten Engelmann, who was later judged to be ineligible, Cambridge are hoping to legitimise their resurgence with a new crew. Only Australian president Tom Edwards and cox Rebecca Dowbiggin are returning. Coach Duncan Holland has produced a fast-stroking, well drilled crew and their recently installed strokeman, Shane O'Mara, an American international, has made a significant difference to their speed.

Dowbiggin will become the first woman to cox Cambridge in successive Boat Races and will face Oxford's president, Nick Brodie, for the second time over the four-and-a-quarter-mile championship course. Brodie has selected a solid and powerful crew, including British Under-23 internationals Oli Moore and Ben Smith.

The crews are evenly matched in weight and height, so comparisons between them for Saturday's race on the Thames at 5.15pm are hard to make, predictions even more so. Cambridge lead the series 79-73, but Sean Bowden, the Dark Blues coach, is a master at bringing his crews to a peak at just the right time- and with his men hungry to avenge last year's perceived injustice, the race could well go their way.